Syngas (mixtures of H2 and CO) can be readily produced from either coal or methane (natural gas) by methods well known in the art and widely commercially practiced around the world. A number of well-known industrial processes use syngas for producing various oxygenated organic chemicals.
The Fischer-Tropsch catalytic process for catalytically producing hydrocarbons from syngas was initially discovered and developed in the 1920's, and was used in South Africa for many years to produce gasoline range hydrocarbons as automotive fuels. The catalysts typically comprised iron or cobalt supported on alumina or titania, and promoters, like rhenium, zirconium, manganese, and the like were sometimes used with cobalt catalysts, to improve various aspects of catalytic performance. The products were typically gasoline-range hydrocarbon liquids having six or more carbon atoms, along with heavier hydrocarbon products.
Today lower molecular weight C1-C5 hydrocarbons (paraffins and/or olefins) are desired and can be obtained from syngas gas via Fischer-Tropsch catalytic process. There is a need to convert the paraffins and/or olefins obtained into other useful compound(s).
Accordingly, there remains a long-term market need for new and improved methods for producing useful compound(s) from syngas via intermediate low molecular weight C1-C5 hydrocarbons, such as from C2 hydrocarbons.
Accordingly, systems and methods useful for the production of ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, and/or ethanolamines are described herein.